Food Round Up: Cambodia

I’m a little sad this day has actually come–today is my last post about Cambodia. As you might have been able to tell from my constant gushing, I really, really liked Cambodia. It was exciting and different, the people were nice, and the food…oh man, the food is out of this world. Don’t know what Cambodian food is? That’s okay, we didn’t either until we got there. As it turns out, it’s not too different from Thai food. There’s a lot of curries, soups, rice dishes and lots of fresh fruit and veggies. Early on, we found a favorite dish, and then we had a hard time trying other things!

Khmer Amok

This was hands-down our favorite dish in Cambodia, and a top contender for our favorite dish of the entire trip. Here’s how Wikipedia describes this mouth-watering dish:

Freshwater fish fillet (commonly snakehead fish, or Mekong catfish) is covered with an aromatic kroeung (pounded shallots, lemongrass, garlic, kaffir lime), roasted crushed peanuts, coconut milk, and egg and then wrapped in banana leaves and steamed until it achieves a mousse-like texture. Unlike the Thai, Lao and Malaysian versions of the same dish, it is not intended to be spicy but rather fragrant, zesty and flavorful.

Yum! I can’t remember if we actually ever had it with fish, because the dish is also made with chicken or veggies only, and we typically got the veggie version. Yum yum yum!

Stir fries

Like Thai food, Cambodian food heavily features mixed meats and veggies, stir fried in a variety of delicious sauces. I can’t remember many specifics, but one favorite we found in Cambodia (and really, all over Southeast Asia) was cashew chicken. You can never go wrong with cashew chicken!

Soups

Soups are something Cambodia is famous for…but I’m sorry to say, we barely tried any. Our excuse? It was too hot! In theory, I wanted to try some of the famous Cambodian soups, but when it came time to order in usually outdoor restaurants, I couldn’t fathom slurping down a hot, steamy bowl of soup.

Fresh fruits and veggies

Like the rest of Southeast Asia, fresh fruits and veggies are plentiful and delicious. We ordered a few amazing salads, fruit platters and fruit shakes on days when it was too hot to snack on warm foods. You can’t go wrong with fruit in Southeast Asia!

Spring rolls

Yum! Another dish that you can find nearly everywhere in Southeast Asia. We had both fresh and fried spring rolls in Cambodia…take a guess, which one do you think we liked better?? (The correct answer is…fried. Always fried.)

And last but not least, one of the happiest food sites we saw in Cambodia…

The grocery store cheese isle. Can you believe all that cheese??? You can not find cheese selections like that in other parts of Asia. Chalk it up to all the tourists or the French colonists influence, but good cheese is not hard to find in Cambodia.

So there you have it–the end of our Cambodia coverage! I can’t wait until the day we can get back there and explore it some more. If you have any questions about Cambodia, let me know! And stay tuned, because next up is…Vietnam!

7 Responses to “Food Round Up: Cambodia”

That cheese aisle looks pretty awesome!!! Though Hong Kong is our new best friend in the Cheese in Asia game…its an unreal selection here including even our beloved famous NZ dairy!!! Cambodia looks incredible and you guys have, I suspect, done it justice with your lovely posts. We’re thinking of heading there later in the year – can’t wait!!!H-J recently posted…The Adventures of Black Beauty and Mixed Veg in the Golden City

Oh yes, Hong Kong grocery stores nearly made us weep with pleasure–it was our first stop after Korea, and in a lot of ways, it was a bit of reverse culture shock! You should definitely go to Cambodia I’d love to see India someday, and your recent posts are making me scared/excited about doing that!

You are not the only ones raving about Cambodia lately, and it makes me all the more excited to hit there in a few months!

One thing I am loving about traveling through this part of the world is all the new cuisines I am encountering… and loving! I have a friend who traveled through Asia in 2010 and when I asked her which country had her favorite food, she said Cambodia, which really surprised me as I knew absolutely nothing about the food there. Based on your pictures, I suspect I’m going to love it too!

(And yes, whenever “fried” is an option, that is always the right one!)

You will LOVE Cambodia! Definitely try the Khmer Amok, and if its not too hot, try at least one soup! So good Do you know where you’re staying already? If not, let me know, I can recommend good hotels in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap!